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A teaspoon ( tsp.) is a small spoon that can be used to stir a cup of tea or coffee, or as a tool for Cooking measures volume. The size of teaspoons ranges from about . For dosing of medicine and, in places where metric units are used, for cooking purposes, a teaspoonful is defined as , and standard are used.
Teaspoons with longer handles, such as iced tea spoons, are commonly used also for ice cream desserts or floats. Similar spoons include the tablespoon and the dessert spoon, the latter intermediate in size between a teaspoon and a tablespoon, used in eating dessert and sometimes soup or cereals. Much less common is the coffee spoon, which is a smaller version of the teaspoon, intended for use with the small type of coffee cup.
Another teaspoon, called an orange spoon (in American English: grapefruit spoon), tapers to a sharp point or teeth, and is used to separate Citrus from their membranes. A bar spoon, equivalent to a teaspoon, is used in measuring ingredients for .
A container designed to hold extra teaspoons, called a spoon tray, usually in a set with a covered sugar container, formed a part of Victorian table service.
Also used for coffee, these spoons were usually made of gilt silver, and were available with a variety of handle shapes: plain, twisted, decorated with knobs, also known as knops, hence the knop-top name for such spoons. Widespread use and modern size date back to the Georgian era. The teaspoon is first mentioned in an advertisement in a 1686 edition of the London Gazette. Teaspoons, probably of English origin, are present on the 1700 Dutch painting by Nicholas Verkolje, "A Tea Party".
A special dish for resting the teaspoons, a "spoon boat", was a part of the tea set in the 18th century. At that time, the spoons were playing important role in the tea drinking etiquette: a spoon laid "across" the teacup indicated that the guest did not need any more tea, otherwise, the hostess was obligated to offer a fresh cup of tea, and it was considered impolite to refuse the offering. Sometimes the spoons were numbered to make it easier to match the cups with the guests after a refill.
A small scale study in Greece found that household teaspoons are a poor approximation of the standard tsp measure. The study investigated the accuracy of teaspoons as a measuring tool for liquid medicine. They surveyed 71 teaspoons from 25 houses and found that the volume varied between .
| 1 metric teaspoon | =|align=right|5|mL |
| = | international metric tablespoon |
| = | Australian metric tablespoon |
| = | metric dessert spoon |
| ≈ | British imperial fluid drachms |
| ≈ | Fluid ounce |
| ≈ | UK tablespoon |
| ≈ | UK dessert spoon |
| ≈ | UK teaspoons |
| ≈ | Salt spoon |
| ≈ | UK pinches (solids only) |
| ≈ | UK drops (liquids only) |
| ≈ | US customary fluid drams |
| ≈ | Fluid ounce |
| ≈ | US customary tablespoon |
| ≈ | US customary dessert spoon |
| ≈ | US customary teaspoons |
| ≈ | US customary coffee spoons |
| ≈ | Salt spoon |
| ≈ | US customary dashes (solids only) |
| ≈ | US customary pinches (solids only) |
| ≈ | US customary smidgens (solids only) |
| ≈ | US customary drops (liquids only) |
| 1 US customary teaspoon | =|align=right|1|US customary fluid drams |
| = | US customary fluid ounce |
| = | US customary tablespoon |
| = | US customary dessert spoon |
| = | US customary coffee spoons |
| = | Salt spoon |
| = | US customary dashes (solids only) |
| = | US customary pinches (solids only) |
| = | US customary smidgens (solids only) |
| = | US customary drops (liquids only) |
| ≈ | British imperial fluid drachms |
| ≈ | Fluid ounce |
| ≈ | UK tablespoon |
| ≈ | UK dessert spoons |
| ≈ | UK teaspoons |
| ≈ | Salt spoon |
| ≈ | UK pinches (solid only) |
| ≈ | UK drops (liquids only) |
| = | millilitres |
| ≈ | international metric tablespoon |
| ≈ | Australian metric tablespoon |
| ≈ | metric dessert spoon |
| ≈ | metric teaspoon |
For nutritional labeling and medicine in the US, the teaspoon is defined the same as a metric teaspoonprecisely 5 millilitres (mL).21CFR101.9(b)(5)(viii) 2 1CFR101.9
| 1 UK teaspoon | =|align=right|1|British imperial fluid drachm |
| = | UK tablespoon |
| = | UK dessert spoon |
| = | UK salt spoons |
| = | UK pinches (solids only) |
| = | UK drops (liquids only) |
| = | British imperial fluid ounce |
| ≈ | US customary fluid dram |
| ≈ | Fluid ounce |
| ≈ | US customary tablespoon |
| ≈ | US customary dessert spoon |
| ≈ | US customary teaspoon |
| ≈ | US customary coffee spoons |
| ≈ | Salt spoon |
| ≈ | US customary dashes (solids only) |
| ≈ | US customary pinches (solids only) |
| ≈ | US customary smidgens (solids only) |
| ≈ | US customary drops (liquids only) |
| ≈ | millilitres |
| ≈ | international metric tablespoon |
| ≈ | Australian metric tablespoon |
| ≈ | metric dessert spoon |
| ≈ | metric teaspoon |
The definitions of "spoonful" vary. In American recipes, a "spoon" without clarification stands for a "level" spoon, with no ingredient showing above the rim of the spoon bowl. A British cookbook would mean a "round" or "heaped" spoon, with the ingredient peaking above the rim:
When tea-drinking was first introduced to England circa 1660, tea was rare and expensive, as a consequence of which teacups and teaspoons were smaller than today. This situation persisted until 1784, when the
Accessed. As the price of tea declined, the size of teacups and teaspoons increased. By the 1850s, the teaspoon as a unit of culinary measure had increased to of a tablespoon, but the apothecary unit of measure remained the same. Nevertheless, the teaspoon, usually under its Latin name, continued to be used in apothecaries' measures for several more decades, with the original definition of one fluid dram.
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